Monday, August 31, 2015

Ladies in White Denounce Arrests That Began Early Sunday Morning / 14ymedio
Posted on August 30, 2015

14ymedio, 30 August 2015 — The leader of the Ladies in White, Berta
Soler, reported several arrests of opponents and independent journalists
beginning early today. Those detained were prevented from attending Mass
at Santa Rita Church and from participating in the traditional Sunday
march along Fifth Avenue. Despite the strong police operation deployed
around the parish, at least 40 Ladies in White and 15 activists managed
to arrive at the site.

The blogger and activist Agustín López Canino was prevented from leaving
his house by the police car with the number 632 and reporter Juan
Gonzalez Febles was arrested before reaching the location of the march,
according to sources from the dissidence. This newspaper was able verify
the existence of a strong police operation on several streets around the
meeting site of the Ladies in White at Gandhi park starting before ten
o'clock in the morning.

For her part, the dissident Martha Beatriz Roque reported via Twitter
the "troubling proximity between the forces of repression" and the
Ladies in White who were able to reach the park. In particular, a rapid
response brigade gathered at the corner of 3rd avenue and 24th, as
reported by the regime opponent Juan Angel Moya.

As they left the place, the police proceeded to violently arrest the
assembled activists. To date their whereabouts are unknown, but in the
past the women have been transferred to a processing center in Tarara,
east of Havana and men to the place known as Vivac in Calabazar.

Cuba: Wipe the Slate Clean and Start Over, or Form a Truth Commission?
Posted on August 30, 2015

Ivan Garcia, 11 July 2015 — On a leaden afternoon in 1960 that portended
rain, René, 79 years old, recalls how a half-dozen militia members
encased in wide uniforms and bearing Belgian weapons appeared at his
uncle's house in the peaceful neighborhood of La Víbora to certify the
confiscation of his properties.

"My family owned a milk processing plant that produced white and cream
cheeses. They also owned an apartment house and a country residence. In
two hours they were left with just the house in La Víbora and a car.
Fidel Castro's government confiscated the rest without paying a cent.
Within six months they flew to Miami. Of course, I would view it well if
the Cuban state were to compensate us for that arbitrariness. But I
doubt it. Those people (the regime) have never liked to pay debts,"
says René, who still lives with his children and grandchildren in the
big house that had belonged to his relatives.

The Bearded One's confiscatory hurricane was intense. Residences, works
of art, jewelry, automobiles, industries, stores, businesses and
newspapers were nationalized in the name of Revolutionary Justice.

Later, in 1968, the pyre of expropriations extended to the frita stands,
neighborhood grocery stores, and scissor-sharpening shops. "They'd
arrive with their dog faces and seize everything. Later, the owner of
the little shop would have to sign a form attesting that the surrender
had been voluntary. As far as I know, nobody protested. There was too
much fear," recalls Daniel, formerly the owner of a shoe repair shop.

Roy Schecher, an American born in Cuba, saw his rural property of
5,666 hectares, and a 17-room, colonial-era house in Havana,
expropriated by the government; it is now the residence of the Chinese
Embassy.

Schechter's daughter, Amy Rosoff, told the publication News.com that
when the authorities told her parents that their properties no longer
belonged to them, they escaped from the Island in a ferry, carrying
their hidden jewelry.

Schecter even paid all his employees before leaving, with the hope that
he would return. He spent the rest of his life working in his
father-in-law's shoe store, and reminding his daughter that the lost
properties would one day be reclaimed.

Cases like these number in the thousands. The United States government
alleges that the military autocracy in Cuba owes $7-billion dollars to
former property owners.

Several law firms in the US and Spain expect to wage a legal battle for
their clients to obtain just compensation. Nicolás Gutiérrez, a Florida
resident (but born in Costa Rica after his parents, Nicolás Gutiérrez
Castaño and Aleida Álvarez, were exiled) defends the idea that some day
the families whose properties were expropriated by the Cuban regime will
be compensated.

And it is because Gutiérrez, a lawyer by profession, characterizes
Decree 890, issued on 13 October 1960, as a "theft act" by which the
recently installed government stripped all American companies operating
on the Island of their properties, as well as the Cuban owners of many
businesses.

So, too, the Gutiérrez family was bereft of their assets, including
several sugar processing plants that were valued then at more than
$45-million dollars.

The Gutiérrez-Castaño family's holdings, which were among the most
affected by the expropriations law, were built on years of work
by Nicolás Castaño Capetillo, a Basque immigrant who arrived in Cuba at
the age of 14 and with barely a third-grade education. When he died in
1926, "he was considered among the wealthiest men in the country,
according to statements by his great-grandson to Iliana Lavastida,
journalist with Diario Las Américas.

While the enterprises of hundreds of families or multinational
corporations such as Coca-Cola or Exxon were confiscated, thousands of
Cubans purged their defiance towards the Castro regime with long prison
sentences.

Still remaining to be documented is the number of compatriots who were
executed as a result of extremely summary trials, for having utilized
the very same methods to which Fidel Castro resorted during his
confrontation with the dictator Fulgencio Batista.

To be a dissident during the first years of the Revolutionary Government
was a grave crime. Thousands of women and men suffered beatings and
mistreatment in the Island's prisons. The history of Cuban political
imprisonment cannot be forgotten.

Now that the final reel of the Castro brother's saga is rolling, the
subject is once again relevant. What to do? Forget the past, or form a
commission to investigate the arbitrary actions committed by the government?

Much can be learned from the experience of Eastern Europe. In the Spring
of 2013, a conference took place in Miami in which Cubans from both
shores participated, along with dissidents from the old communist Germany.

Reconciliation is not easy, warned Dieter Dettke, professor of the BMW
Center of German and European Studies at Georgetown University, as well
as Günter Nooke, dissident of the old German Democratic Republic (GDR),
and later commissioner of human rights in reunified Germany.

A true rapprochement requires forgiveness as much as justice, but not
revenge, Dettke said, pointing out that following the GDR's collapse,
246 of its top-level functionaries were accused of various abuses.
Around half were declared not guilty.

For reconciliation to happen, "there needs to be a sinner who repents,"
said Nooke, who went on to state that the German government had agreed,
following the reunification, to pay reparations to victims of the STASI,
the GDR's notoriously brutal security apparatus.

It is no use to attempt to turn the page as if nothing had happened. In
its defense, the regime maintains that for reasons of the embargo, the
United States should compensate Cuba with $100-billion dollars.

One might then ask if the olive-green autocracy plans to ask forgiveness
for having lied to the Cuban people. Never was our opinion sought as to
implementing is absurd political, economic and social strategies.

When the storm blows over, Cubans, all of us, should determine how we
will negotiate our future without forgetting the past –keeping in mind
that hatred obscures clarity.

Photo by Gilberto Ante, 17 May 1959, La Plata, Sierra Maestra. In the
country hut of peasant Julián Pérez: Fidel Castro; the economist Oscar
Pinos Santos (seated in a corner, wearing glasses and a watch);
and Antonio Núñez Jiménez, president of the National Institute for
Agrarian Reform (at the left, wearing a beret), among other members of
the Revolutionary Government; giving the final touches to the first
Agrarian Reform Law, which would expropriate the large estates, and
would become the first legal measure of a radical nature enforced by the
bearded ones in power. On 4 October 1963, a second Agrarian Reform Law
was approved, which according to some specialists marked the beginning
of the agricultural disaster of Cuba (TQ).

Cuba Buys Successors to Russian Missiles That Downed Brothers to the
Rescue Planes / 14ymedio
Posted on August 30, 2015

14ymedio, 30 August 2015 – In 2015 Cuba will have modern air-to-air
missiles acquired from Russia, according to the state-operated Russian
Agency of International Information. The island's government will
receive a consignment of VYMPEL R-73Es, which will add to the missiles
already imported in recent years, said Yuri Klinshin, president of the
Duks company.

The note added that the missile is highly maneuverable and can reach a
top speed of 1,500 miles/hour, and a maximum height of 18.6 miles. Other
countries that have already bought these arms include Vietnam, Angola,
Venezuela Uruguay and Indonesia, among others.

The Vympel R-73E is the successor to the R-60MK, which the USSR gave to
Cuba and which was used by the Cuban Air Force to shoot down two
civilian Cessnas belonging to Brothers to the Rescue on 24 February
1996. The attack cost the lives of four crew members and provoked a
strong reaction from the Cuban exile community. The scandal led
President Bill Clinton to sign the Helms Burton Act.

Twenty years later, in the midst of a fragile and tortuous process of
normalization of relations between the US and Cuba, this new purchase of
Russian rockets is disclosed.

U.S. Government Snubs the Independent Cuban Press / Ivan Garcia
Posted on August 30, 2015

Iván García, Havana, 10 August 2015 — The U.S. Embassy in Havana, the
State Department, and the administration of Barack Obama, have
intentionally mapped out a strategy to prevent independent Cuban
journalists from covering the visit of John Kerry and the official
reopening of the diplomatic headquarters on Friday, August 14.

For the the four-day historic event, no independent journalist,
dissident, or human rights activist has been invited to participate in
the ceremony, or the press conference by Kerry.

Since July 22nd I have made a dozen calls to the U.S. Public Affairs
Office in Havana to request a press pass that would allow me to cover
the event for Diario las Americas, El Periodico de Catalunya, and
Webstringers LCC, a Washington-based media communications company, and I
have not received a response from any official.

According to a diplomatic source, effective July 20th, the process
changed for obtaining a credential to cover events or press conferences
of politicians, business organizations, or Americans visiting the island.

Before that date, when Lynn W. Roche was head of the Public Affairs
Section, I could get credentials in record time. I was able to cover the
visit of Roberta Jacobson, congressmen, senators, businessmen, and
officials from the State Department, among others.

Now, according to this source, accreditation must be obtained at the
International Press Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, located
at 23rd and O, in Vedado. A rather crude strategy designed to get rid of
independent journalists.

The worst part is not the disrespect or indifference. The U.S.
government has the sovereign right to invite to its events those people
it deems appropriate.

But out of respect, at least have the courtesy to speak face-to-face
with independent journalists and inform them of the new policy. Don't
beat around the bush.

The U.S. government, which is not stupid, knows that for 54 years Cuba
has been ruled by a military autocracy that prohibits political
opposition and independent journalism.

Leaving press accreditation to the Cuban regime for events that the
United States puts on in Cuba is like putting a child molester in charge
of a Boy Scout camp.

Armed with a letter from Maria Gomez Torres, director of content for
Webstringers, I personally went to the International Press Center. The
official who vetted me, after reading the letter, looked through her
papers and said with mock surprise, "Mr. García, you do not appear as an
accredited journalist in Cuba."

"And how can I be accredited?" I asked her.

"You must have an operating license and a permit from the Center," she
replied.

"Fine. Can you handle that for me?"

"No, because you do not qualify," she replied with a tone of mystery.

"Why don't I qualify, since I've collaborated with newspapers in Spain
and the United States since 2009?" I inquired.

"Our Center reserves the right to give permission to reporters as we see
fit," snapped the bureaucrat.

After the unsuccessful attempt, I again called on the U.S. Embassy to
request an appointment with an official who could tell me why an
independent journalist cannot be accredited to the August 14 event.

But no one would take my call. December 17 marked a new era between Cuba
and the United States. That noon, Barack Obama promised to empower the
Cuban people and to promote respect for human rights on the island.

Pure demagoguery. The government that claims to promote democratic
values, shamelessly tramples the spirit and letter of its Constitution,
where the right to inform is sacred.

The U.S. government is trying not to tarnish its August 14 gala, knowing
that if it accredits independent journalists and invites dissidents,
then officials of the regime will not attend.

The olive-green autocracy has a rule that it will not take part in any
event with Cuban dissidents, whom it considers "mercenaries and
employees of the U.S. government."

Fines Do Not Deter, They Accumulate / 14ymedio, Orlando Palma
Posted on August 31, 2015

14ymedio, Orlando Palma, Havana, 29 August 2015 – Outside the market at
17th and K in Havana informal vendors gather despite the police raids.
Niurka is one of them and her "offering" is reduced to selling plastic
bags which she offers at one Cuban peso (about 4¢ US) each. "The last
time they charged me, they gave me a one thousand peso fine," says the
women about her most recent encounter. However, she says she wouldn't
think of paying it and will continue to offer her wares.

"People come here when they are planning to travel or to do some
paperwork and they don't want to have an unpaid fine," says an employee
of the Fine Payment Office of the Plaza of the Revolution municipality.
In line for the payment counter, a young man named Diego carried in his
hand a paper that shows the amounts for each offense. "I was sitting on
a wall and a cop fined me for damage to a public ornament," he says angrily.

When asked if from now on he would avoid sitting there, Diego made a
defiant noise with his mouth that is popularly known as "frying an egg."
Several people in the line laughed with complicity. Those who have come
there are only a part of those fined, the rest will wait until the last
moment to pay their debt, or never pay it at all.

The amount of fines accumulated in the capital are not the only in the
country that are high. According to the local press in Ciego de Avila,
the debts to the public purse, as of the end of July, consisted of
21,600 fines totalling more than 4,473,000 pesos, still unpaid in this
province. Some 90% of them are "in arrears," that is doubled 30 days
after their imposition.

The lack of collection managers to go to the homes of those in default
is one of the reasons that slows down the whole process. "Before, many
came and paid so that their neighbors wouldn't see that they had been
fined," explains an employee Department of Penalties of the Provincial
Department of Finance and Prices in Havana, who asked for anonymity.

The opinion of those fined is very different from the official version.
Eduardo, a traveling sweets seller who works primarily in the Cerro
municipality, near the corner of Infanta and Manglar, believes that
"sometimes they issue fines just because they feel like it." The
self-employed man says, "They've penalized me for standing in one place
for a few minutes while selling my products."

Many collection managers have a system of paying for results. This means
that the more fines they issue they more they earn. "At the end of the
month you see them acting like crazy people trying to collect all the
accumulated fines," explains Samuel, a collective taxi driver who plies
the route from Fraternity Park to Santiago de las Vegas.

The payment system is plagued with bureaucratic deficiencies and
excesses, as 14ymedio was able to confirm. If a cop or an inspector
imposes a fine in Havana on a citizen whose identity card shows their
residence in another province, the violation will be settled in the
municipality of origin. It will be a headache for this office to locate
the offender and make them pay.

"I must have a fortune in fines in Sagua de Tanamo, so it's been years
since I visited my family," confesses the illegal driver of an almendrón
(a shared, fixed-route taxi). However, none of the respondents for this
article have had their wages seized as a consequence of not paying their
debt to the public purse, nor has any been brought before a court or
held in detention.

Fines grow. They are doubled and some reach unpayable figures, but it
doesn't seem to deter many from committing an offense. "The problem is
that here everything is forbidden, so people have lost respect for the
law," blurts out Niurka. And she adds defiantly, "This week I will hide
myself better, so that inspectors can not see me."

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Cloud Seeding or the Sword of Voltus V / Yoani Sanchez
Posted on August 29, 2015

Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, 28 August 2015 — Undone, with the sparks of
short circuits clouding his vision and the cabin smashed into
smithereens, Voltus V faced the worst end against a fearsome enemy.
However, at the last minute, he drew his sword and in a clean cut slew
his enemy. Japanese anime, so popular on the island during the eighties,
seems to have inspired the Cuban authorities in their tendencies to hold
off on certain solutions until a problem has already resulted in the
worst ravages.

This has happened with the recent announcement that, as of this coming
September 15, a campaign will begin to "artificially increase the rain."
Through a technique known as "cloud seeding," Pyrocartridges will be
launched from a Russian Yak-40 plane so that the water vapor particles
will condense, and this condensation will produce precipitation,
according to the official press.

The first reaction of many on reading the news was to wonder why they
hadn't done something like this earlier. Did the country have to get to
its current state of hydrological emergency for Voltus V to draw his
sword? With the dams at no more than 36% of capacity and 25 reservoirs
completely dry–at the so-called "death point"–now the experts from the
National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) propose to bombard the
clouds?

The answers to these questions not only alert us to the insolvency and
inefficiency of our state apparatus to handle certain issues, but also
clearly indicate that they have not been up to the task to preserve this
valuable resource. As long as leaks and breaks in the country's water
system continue to waste more than 50% of the water pumped, no water
project will be sustainable.

On the other hand, it is worth questioning how water management has been
approached for decades in our nation, which has prioritized the creation
of large reservoirs. This decision has ended up damaging the riverbeds
of the countless dammed rivers and has reduced the sediment they carry
to the coasts, with the consequent erosion of flora and fauna in the deltas.

Of course, many of these reservoirs–now below half their capacity, or
totally dry–were built at a time when the Hydrologist-in-Chief made
decisions about every detail of our lives. The marks of his excesses and
harebrained schemes are still apparent in our country, excesses that
failed to give our people more food, more water and more freedom.

So enormous public works of damming the rivers and streams were
undertaken to the detriment of other solutions that would have helped us
to ease the current situation. Among them, investments in wastewater
treatment and the desalination of seawater, which surrounds us on all
sides. Every hydrological bet in the country was placed on one card: the
rain. Now, we are losing the game.

If the announcement of "cloud seeding" had been made in a country with
an environmental movement, we would see protests in the street. The
method is not as innocuous as the newspaper Granma wants us to think. In
fact, the critics of this practice consider it "an alteration of the
normal rhythm of nature," and argue that interference with moisture in
one part of the country could compromise the rain pattern elsewhere.

Looking up to see whether or not the rains come, we Cubans are waiting
for something more than a crop of clouds altered with a blast of silver
iodide. We deserve a coherent hydrology policy, over the long term,
without magic or spells, but with guarantees. May the next drought not
find us like Voltus V, destroyed and thirsty, raising an arm to draw our
majestic sword… that we haven't carried for a long time.

Diplomatic Relations between the United States and Cuba / Anddy Sierra
Alvarez
Posted on August 29, 2015

Anddy Sierra Alvarez, 24 August 2015 –The Obama administration
apparently betrayed the deep grief of many Cubans who have suffered the
"welcoming" hospitality of the Cuban government. Everything points to
economic interests, but as of now US government officials may enter
Cuba. What will happen?

Cuba opened the doors of its prison and in the future it will bring
consequences. With the imminent Internet, there is no one that can stop
it. Social networks have the power to inform about what is hidden.

It is also true that the Cuban government benefits from this
reestablishment, its removal from the US List of Sponsors of Terrorism
attests to this. But there is still a long way to go and Cuba asks for a
lot in exchange for nothing.

The Obama administration has its strategy. The embargo, what has it
achieved? Nothing. Its effect was on the people and not on the communist
leadership. This embargo (blockade, according to the Cuban government)
only enriched the communist propaganda: "Everything the people of Cuba
are suffering is thanks to the existence of the blockade." This
discourse of the Castros, aren't they obligated to change it? Difficult,
no, because in order for the US embargo to see modifications, Americans
need to see significant changes in the controversial issue in respect to
human rights in Cuba. An endless topic.

American companies want to invest in Cuba

This is another benefit, but it will have its clashes. How will these
companies handle the recruitment of Cuban personnel? By CUBALSE? (Cuba
At the Service of the Foreigner). And the salaries; Will the American
dollar devalue in the Port of Mariel in order to avoid the worsening of
social classes on the island?

Every day the information circulates in Cuba with an immediate power,
something that has not happened in the past. They do not believe that
this can increase the discontent of the Cubans and begin to analyze all
the events that occur which they see with their eyes closed.

The Castros Lose Strength

The Cuban Revolution loses strength, the Committees for the Defense of
the Revolution (CDR) don't work. And in the high places of government of
the grand caiman differences exist. What do they tell me about the hot
year 2018? What will Raul Castro do? Quite a dilemma, who will lead us?
Perhaps, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, it is not known? Maybe Lazo?

In any event, Cuba's future is very uncertain. Not even the Cuban
government knows what to expect.

14ymedio, Rosa Lopez, Havana, 28 August 2015 — Every summer national
television calls on us to save electricity, reports the high
temperatures and disseminates statements by officials of the Ministry of
Education in which they assure us that school uniforms are
guaranteed. However, year after year, complaints about deficient
supplies and problems with the sizes of these garments return to inflame
public opinion.

On this occasion the sale started in the capital on May 25 and will
extend to December 31. According to prime time news, "The industry did
its part and fulfilled the order for 699,000 garments," for Havana's
students. However, beginning in the first half of July, the uniforms
began to "go missing."

"I spent a week looking for a girl's skirt, but all I find are huge
sizes," says Caridad, the mother of a little girl who will enter first
grade this year. "They told me the only place that has any left is the
store on Dolores Street in Lawton. So I will go there," says a
determined but otherwise exhausted mother.

Among the reasons for such a poor offering is the pilfering of more than
11,000 elementary, polytechnic and high school uniforms from the
wholesale warehouses, according to a report that appeared Wednesday
night on national television.

So far the authorities have not specified if the perpetrators of the
robbery have been arrested, but the informal market shows all the
evidence of having received a large assortment.

"I have all sizes of uniforms," ​​an illegal vendor boasted Tuesday on
the outskirts of La Cuevita, a known enclave for everything one needs to
buy under the table. You just have to follow her to a nearby shack for
her to show you the merchandise. There are blouses and skirts for girls
in elementary school, a complete set for boys, and also junior high
uniforms. They sell for 100 Cuban pesos (just under $4 US) for each set,
more than ten times the price in State stores.

Manuela, retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is blunt, "They
should shoot those engaged in reselling uniforms, because this is very
sensitive because it's about our children." She expressed this opinion
loudly in front of her daughter and two granddaughters, outside the
store at 20 de Mayo and Ayesteran streets, in El Cerro. But the young
woman accompanying her didn't agree with her opinion. "On the contrary,
they should get a medal, because at least they do better than the
State," she opined.

The deficit has forced the provincial trade company to take a series of
measures so that an assortment of the most popular sizes will reach
Havana. "Undress one saint to dress another," quipped a grandmother
accompanied by her seven-year-old granddaughter when she was told to
expect supplies from other provinces.

"Keep checking back every day," an employee told a mother who couldn't
find pants in her son's size at an establishment in Central Havana.
"This woman thinks that I have nothing else to do in my life but to look
for a uniform," she commented to other customers who also left the store
empty handed.

Both the Provincial Education Department and the Provincial Trade
Company have issued a call for calm and promised that in the coming
weeks uniforms will return to fill the state stores, especially the
small sizes. By then, those who have not bought on the black market or
used their seamstress skills to alter a large garment, may have their
chance.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - A Brazilian news magazine has accused former
president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of acting as lobbyist in Cuba for
Brazil's largest engineering firm Odebrecht, which built the container
terminal at the Cuban port of Mariel.

In this week's edition headlined "Our man in Havana," Epoca magazine
cited Brazilian diplomatic cables about visits to Cuba by Lula after he
had left office. During those visits he sought to further Brazilian
business interests on the island, it said.

One cable from 2014 reported on a meeting in Havana at which Lula
discussed with Odebrecht executives how to secure Cuban guarantees for
loans from Brazilian state development bank BNDES to finance new
projects sought by Odebrecht in Cuba.

Lula's foundation called the Epoca story "offensive" and "malicious" and
"criminal manipulation" of government documents.

"These are normal activities. The ex-president did nothing illegal and
was discussing sovereign guarantees for loans to Cuba in a meeting where
a diplomat was present," said Jose Chrispiniano, a spokesman for the
Lula Institute.

Lula is under investigation for improperly using his influence to
benefit Odebrecht, whose billionaire chief executive Marcelo Odebrecht
was arrested in June in connection with the massive bribery and
political kickback scandal focused on state-run oil company Petroleo
Brasileiro SA.

The inquiry puts the legacy of one of Brazil's most popular former
leaders on the line at a time when some are calling for the impeachment
of his chosen successor, President Dilma Rousseff, for alleged campaign
finance irregularities.

Epoca, owned by the Globo media group, said Lula lobbied to get Cuba
good terms for a $682 million loan from BNDES that went to finance the
Mariel port project built by Odebrecht.

The Lula Institute said that, by the time Lula visited Cuba in 2011, the
loan for Mariel had been approved two years earlier in contracts "that
no alleged lobbyist could alter."

Lula, founder of the ruling Workers' Party, said in a radio interview on
Friday he could run again for the presidency in 2018 to prevent his
opponents winning the elections.

While still an influential politician, Lula's popularity has been hurt
by the arrest on corruption charges of his former chief of staff and the
treasurer of his party. Recent polls show the leftist leader would be
defeated if he ran again.

Erika dissipates over eastern Cuba; heavy rain still possible for Florida
By Brian McNoldy August 29 at 9:50 AM

Like a broken record, Erika is still very disorganized, and has still
not turned toward the northwest. Since a surface circulation could not
be found by aircraft reconnaissance — the latest best guess of a surface
center is now near the northern coast of Cuba — it no longer qualifies
as a tropical cyclone. But several inches of rain are still possible
across parts of central and southern Florida starting Sunday.

Erika has been forecast to turn toward the northwest for several days
now, and it did not. Only recently did it start to nudge slightly to
the west-northwest. The persistence in track forecasts is illustrated
in the chart below, which shows a series of model consensus track
forecasts overlaid, with the oldest in light blue and the most recent in
dark blue. The red Xs show the actual observed center. The official
National Hurricane Center tracks look nearly identical to these.

With that in mind, below is the 8 a.m. update to the official forecast,
which does notably include a northwest turn today. The funny-looking
curve over Cuba is not a real forecast, it's caused by the 8 a.m.
updated position not agreeing at all with the 5 a.m. forecast track.
Finding the center of such a sloppy system is extremely challenging,
and this morning's update illustrates that. What's left of the center
was repositioned to the north side of Cuba.

The forecast also indicates that Erika could reorganize into a tropical
storm over the eastern Gulf. But the abnormally large uncertainty in
this forecast cannot be overstated. It's a case where the cone needs a
cone! It is absolutely possible that Erika's remnants will never
recover and regenerate.

As the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and soon
Cuba can attest to, even a messy weak tropical cyclone or disturbance is
quite capable of producing a LOT of rain. The official intensity of the
storm (tropical depression, Category 1 hurricane, Category 3 hurricane,
etc) is only gauged by the peak wind somewhere in the entire storm, but
other impacts are also destructive and must not be ignored. The latest
5-day precipitation forecast below shows substantial amounts of rain for
basically all of Florida, but particularly along the west coast. This
is by far the biggest anticipated impact from Erika, or what's left of it.

Stay tuned for further updates on Erika and its potential impacts.

Brian McNoldy works in cyclone research at the University of Miami's
world-renowned Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
(RSMAS). His website hosted at RSMAS is also quite popular during
hurricane season.

Saturday, August 29, 2015

"El Sexto" in the Clutches of the Castro Beast / Luis Felipe Rojas
Posted on August 29, 2015

Danilo Maldonado is a Cuban political prisoner who just embarked on the
terrible path of committing to a hunger strike. This was confirmed by
his family members from Havana late on August 25th.

"El Sexto" (as in "The Sixth [hero]", referring to the 5 Castro spies
who were imprisoned in the United States, and in open mockery of the 6th
Congress of the Communist Party) is a restless youth who for months ran
Cuban Intelligence ragged in Havana, painting his graffiti art around as
he pleased.

The following is a short and intense note posted by Lia Villares today
on her blog. She has accompanied him during the months of travail since
his apprehension for painting the names "Fidel" and "Raul" on two pigs
that he was going to release in a Havana park, as performance art:

From Lia Villares

In a telephone conversation a few minutes ago with Danilo's lawyer
Mercy, she told me that—because she has only been licensed for two and a
half months, and is in the midst of family problems—she has "turned
over" Danilo's case to another lawyer.

This Monday when she started work, the first thing she did when she got
to the office (at 23rd and G) was to pick up Danilo's file.

She said she had done everything possible for Danilo, including filing
with the prosecutor more than 4 petitions to modify the conditions of
release; all were rejected. The last time she went to apply for
modification of conditions of release at the Municipal Prosecutor's
office, a prosecutor named Viviana told her that she couldn't do
anything because the file was at the Attorney General's Office (at 1st
and 18th).

She insists she wants to take on Danilo's defense, because she sees no
"crime" in the case, and although Danilo had told her during their last
visit (some months back) that he did not want any defense, she still
wants to defend him because she also sees no "dangerousness in the act,"
which is what they are arguing in denying the modifications she has
requested.

"I didn't want to let go," she told me in an anguished voice, "and
everyone who has come to see me knows that I haven't stopped doing
everything available to me."

Tuesday I will see her along with Danilo's mother and take to her the
Complaint document prepared byCubaLex, the independent legal counsel
office. I delivered a copy of it on Tuesday, August 25 to the Municipal
Prosecutor of La Lisa, to the Provincial Prosecutor of Havana, and to
the Attorney General of the Republic. I have an acknowledged receipt
from each of them. They are required to respond within 60 business days.

The document explains how Danilo's case ranges from arbitrary detention
to the violation of the universal right to freedom of thought and
expression, how "due process" has not been accorded him, and how his
right to liberty, security, and personal integrity has been violated.

The Complaint is directed to the officials charged with enforcing the
law, that they "accept this document, and investigate the facts here
reported, and submit the officers involved to criminal proceedings,
while restoring the law violated, to avoid the international
responsibility of the Cuban state for breach of its obligations to
respect and guarantee the human rights of all individuals within its
territory and subject to its jurisdiction, without distinction, as
affirmed by almost all the relevant international treaties."

And it further requests his "immediate release as a necessary measure to
protect his personal well-being. The precautionary measures requested
are raised as necessary and appropriate, according to the truthful
information reported and provided in this document.

"The extreme gravity and urgency of this case justifies the need to
protect the physical and mental integrity of Maldonado Machado, because
of the extreme seriousness of the threat to his freedom and personal
safety presented by his arbitrary detention and current imprisonment by
the national authorities. The urgency of the measure is clear when we
set forth the extremely vulnerable position Danilo finds himself in
because of his role as a dissident and defender of human rights.

"It is internationally understood that 'a person who in any way promotes
or seeks the realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms,
nationally or internationally' should be considered a defender of human
rights, and that the work of human rights defenders is fundamental to
the universal implementation of human rights, and for the full existence
of democracy and the rule of law.

"Defenders of human rights are essential for strengthening and
consolidating democracies, since the goal that motivates the work is for
society in general and seeks to benefit it. Therefore, when a person is
prevented from defending human rights, the rest of society is directly
affected."

Same Hatred, Different Collar / Rosa Maria Rodriguez
Posted on August 28, 2015

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Lord Acton

Hate crimes are violent acts induced by prejudices against a person or
group considered "different," owing to their social class, race,
ethnicity, nationality, political affiliation, ideology, gender, sexual
orientation, religion, or disability. Modernity has driven the
legislative powers of many countries to establish judicial standards to
combat those types of crimes and to prosecute the perpetrators. This has
entailed a reduction of such abuses, which are provoked also by the
social context of the persons or groups, and by the stereotypes created
by societies.

In Cuba, the official and propaganda media of the regime inform us about
hate crimes that are committed "in capitalist countries," of course.
Thus, the Cuban population knows of those violent behaviors that occur
in places where there are no military conflicts and which are miles away
from their security and wellbeing — rather than those that could be
occurring at that moment in their own environment, just inches from
their own backside, or at just a hair of separation from their own head.

The reports don't reach Cubans directly or unadulterated, but rather
strained through the proselytizing sieve of the state analysts. It is
the same hatred, its collar placed by the official discursive
demagoguery and the rulers of some countries, who because of rampant
special interests — often personal, partisan or group-based — are
aligned with the Cuban dictatorship.

Ever since the Castros rose to power in 1959, they have relied greatly
on incentivizing, for their own benefit, this type of conduct classified
as a crime in the penal codes, and even in the constitutions, of some
countries. The Castros utilize this criminal behavior as propaganda, and
as political confrontation and victory.

Years of repeating the same modus operandi with total impunity confirm
this. While they deny one part of the society the exercise of its
freedom of expression, they reward pro-government gangs when these
behave in a criminal fashion that favors the authorities.

In my country, where strikes are prohibited de facto, where almost
everything is directed by the authorities and nobody dares to perform
that type of discriminatory violence without the consent of the
government, the historic Cuban leader — retired since 2006 — has on more
than one occasion called upon the citizenry to "take control of the
streets," which they allege repeatedly and coercively, belong to the
revolutionaries.

Numerical advantage notwithstanding, they represent the lion and the
victims represent the bound monkey. However, there is even more vileness
in hiding under the civic skirt while throwing people into the bullring
of that cowardly and vulgar misdeed.

Tattooed onto the history of the first two decades of this system is the
humiliation, repeated and sustained for years, of ordering those who
were filing their exit papers to labor in the fields.

Similarly, there was the harassment in the 1980s, with the so-called
"acts of repudiation," inflicted on those who wanted to leave for the
United States via the Mariel Boatlift.

The authorities have stuffed their legacy full of actions of this type
directed at leaders of the peaceful opposition, independent journalism,
and civil and human rights organizations. It is a government crime that
persists today. This is not because I say so, it is because they do it.

Such is the brazenness, and such has been the impunity throughout the 56
years of dictatorship, that Cuba now is not enough for them, and they
dispatch their committed civil army — individuals who want to maintain
their standard of living, or who are afraid to refuse in these
despicable activities so as to keep their jobs or perks — to other
countries, as we saw at the Summit of the Americas this past April in
Panama.

It is not just that some of us extend the open hand of reconciliation
and dialogue, and in return receive the fist of official ridicule and
violence. But, what can we expect from an extortionist political model
that took over the country, amputated and demonized democratic praxis
upon imposing a single-party system — thus eliminating political
competition — and that governs testicularly, according to their whims,
despite the fact that its long tenure has ruined Cuba?

In these times that seem like closing stages, or like historical
summations, within our territory and regarding it, in which many
observers beyond the rulers are thinking positively and constructively
about the Cuban people, it is necessary that we reframe the concept of
the peace that we want for our society.

It should not be one with a clockwise-rotating swastika — as that
intimidating one of Nazi Germany's — but rather a "pax" anchored in
respect, inclusion, social justice, sustained harmony, and equity among
all the children of the same one nation.

Hate crimes in Cuba? Definitely — almost all instigated, run and
monitored by the government.

Generation Y, Yoani Sanchez, 28 August 2015 -- Undone, with the sparks
of short circuits clouding his vision and the cabin smashed into
smithereens, Voltus V faced the worst end against a fearsome enemy.
However, at the last minute, he drew his sword and in a clean cut slew
his enemy. Japanese anime, so popular on the island during the eighties,
seems to have inspired the Cuban authorities in their tendencies to hold
off on certain solutions until a problem has already resulted in the
worst ravages.

This has happened with the recent announcement that, as of this coming
September 15, a campaign will begin to "artificially increase the rain."
Through a technique known as "cloud seeding," Pyrocartridges will be
launched from a Russian Yak-40 plane so that the water vapor particles
will condense, and this condensation will produce precipitation,
according to the official press.

The first reaction of many on reading the news was to wonder why they
hadn't done something like this earlier. Did the country have to get to
its current state of hydrological emergency for Voltus V to draw his
sword? With the dams at no more than 36% of capacity and 25 reservoirs
completely dry--at the so-called "death point"--now the experts from the
National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH) propose to bombard the
clouds?

The answers to these questions not only alert us to the insolvency and
inefficiency of our state apparatus to handle certain issues, but also
clearly indicate that they have not been up to the task to preserve this
valuable resource. As long as leaks and breaks in the country's water
system continue to waste more than 50% of the water pumped, no water
project will be sustainable.

On the other hand, it is worth questioning how water management has been
approached for decades in our nation, which has prioritized the creation
of large reservoirs. This decision has ended up damaging the riverbeds
of the countless dammed rivers and has reduced the sediment they carry
to the coasts, with the consequent erosion of flora and fauna in the deltas.

Of course, many of these reservoirs--now below half their capacity, or
totally dry--were built at a time when the Hydrologist-in-Chief made
decisions about every detail of our lives. The marks of his excesses and
harebrained schemes are still apparent in our country, excesses that
failed to give our people more food, more water and more freedom.

So enormous public works of damming the rivers and streams were
undertaken to the detriment of other solutions that would have helped us
to ease the current situation. Among them, investments in wastewater
treatment and the desalination of seawater, which surrounds us on all
sides. Every hydrological bet in the country was placed on one card: the
rain. Now, we are losing the game.

If the announcement of "cloud seeding" had been made in a country with
an environmental movement, we would see protests in the street. The
method is not as innocuous as the newspaper Granma wants us to think. In
fact, the critics of this practice consider it "an alteration of the
normal rhythm of nature," and argue that interference with moisture in
one part of the country could compromise the rain pattern elsewhere.

Looking up to see whether or not the rains come, we Cubans are waiting
for something more than a crop of clouds altered with a blast of silver
iodide. We deserve a coherent hydrology policy, over the long term,
without magic or spells, but with guarantees. May the next drought not
find us like Voltus V, destroyed and thirsty, raising an arm to draw our
majestic sword... that we haven't carried for a long time.

While the U.S. and Cuba are now entering a new age of friendship, a
large number of American fugitives continue to live in Cuba claiming
political asylum.

According to Fox News, there are about 70 escaped U.S. fugitives
currently living in Cuba, but thawed relations between the two nations
could threaten the flight of the estimated 70 American fugitives if Cuba
decides to end political asylum for those individuals.

So far Cuba has been reluctant to give up these fugitives, citing its
sovereignty to harbor anyone it deems worthy of political asylum. Prior
to any negotiations with the U.S., Josefina Vidal, director general for
the U.S. division in Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, drew a line in
the sand.

"We've explained to the U.S. government in the past that there are some
people living in Cuba to whom Cuba has legitimately granted political
asylum," Vidal told The Associated Press.

Here are three most notable American fugitives that have fled from Cuba
and were granted political asylum from the U.S.

1. Charlie Hill

Hill is wanted in connection to the 1971 murder of New Mexico trooper
Robert Rosenbloom, who discovered Hill and two other men transporting
arms and explosives.

The three members of the Republic of New Afrika movement escaped to Cuba
by hijacking a plane in Albuquerque following the incident. Hill is only
surviving of the trio, according to New York magazine.

2. William "Guillermo" Morales

Guillermo Morales was part of a militant Puerto Rican separatist
movement and lost his fingers when a bomb he planted at a New York
military installation blew up, according to the Post. Fuerzas Armadas de
Liberacion Nacional, the group to which Morales was connected, took
credit for more than 130 bombings in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, according
to Fox News Latino.

Morales escaped from a hospital and 89 years in prison while under
police custody. Morales was later apprehended in Mexico, but shipped to
Cuba rather than be extradited him to the U.S.

3. Joanne Chesimard (Assata Shakur)

In 2013, the FBI placed Chesimard on its "Most Wanted Terrorists" list,
the first woman ever to merit that distinction.

Often considered the most infamous American convict to be given
political asylum, Chesimard was convicted of murder and six assault
charges following a deadly car shootout with New Jersey troopers Werner
Foerster and James Harper during a traffic stop. She was sentenced to
life in prison in 1977, but escaped from prison in 1979 with the help of
her friends with the Black Liberation Army.

The state of New Jersey has said it will match the FBI's bounty,
doubling the reward to $2M for information leading to her arrest,
according to Philly.com.

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba will begin a two-month cloud-seeding campaign
over the eastern part of the Caribbean island in hopes of easing the
worst drought in more than a century, Communist Party daily Granma said
on Friday.

A Russian Yak-40 aircraft will be ready for action beginning in
September, the paper said, with the goal of increasing precipitation in
areas that feed into the Cauto River, the country's largest and the main
source of water for area reservoirs.

"The period from January up to the present has been the driest in terms
of precipitation since 1901," Argelio Fernandez, the director of
infrastructure at Cuba's state-run waterworks, told the Granma.

He said cloud seeding may also begin over central Camaguey province,
cattle country, where herds are suffering from hunger and thirst alike.

With reservoirs at around 35 percent of capacity, and in some provinces
well below 20 percent, Cuban authorities appear increasingly alarmed
with just two months left in the rainy season, which runs from May
through October.

Granma said the drought was forecast to persist through March 2016.

Cuba faces water rationing in major cities and hard choices on where
water should be allocated with winter planting, the tourism season and
sugar milling all beginning in November.

Drought conditions across the Caribbean, caused by the phenomenon known
as El Nino, a warming of Pacific waters that affects wind circulation
patterns, have created similar situations on other islands.

Tropical storm Danny provided some relief, but it dissipated before
reaching Cuba. Tropical storm Erika is forecast to veer North toward the
east coast of Florida and only provide limited rainfall in Cuba.

Earlier this month the civil defense system was placed on alert.

More than a million Cubans are already relying on trucked-in water, as
are tens of thousands of cattle, and the country is increasing imports
of rice and other foods to compensate for damage to agriculture.

The government has not provided a national breakdown of drought damage,
but it said earlier this month that emergency measures were being
implemented at all levels, including stricter rationing of water through
the state-run waterworks.

Communist-run Cuba loses around 50 percent of the water pumped from its
reservoirs to leaks. There is little irrigation of farm land and the
systems that exist are outdated and inefficient.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Tropical Storm Erika was losing its
punch as it drenched Haiti and the Dominican Republic early Saturday,
but it left devastation in its path, killing at least 20 people and
leaving another 31 missing on the small eastern Caribbean island of
Dominica, authorities said.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said that mountains and an
unfavorable environment would likely knock Erika below tropical storm
force, though there's a small chance it could recover as it moves along
Cuba and then approaches Florida late Sunday.

Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said in a televised address
late Friday that damage inflicted by the storm set the island back 20
years. Some 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain fell on the mountainous
island.

"The extent of the devastation is monumental. It is far worse than
expected," he said, adding that hundreds of homes, bridges and roads
have been destroyed. "We have, in essence, to rebuild Dominica."

At least 31 people have been reported missing, according to officials
with the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency.

The island's airports remained closed, and some communities remained
isolated by flooding and landslides.

Skerrit asked people to share their resources with each other as foreign
aid trickles in.

"This is a period of national tragedy," he said. "Floods swamped
villages, destroyed homes and wiped out roads. Some communities are no
longer recognizable."

Erika still carried enough force to knock out power to more than 200,000
people in Puerto Rico and cause more than $16 million in damage to crops
there, including plantains, bananas and coffee.

While the storm was stumbling over the Dominican Republic and Haiti,
John Cagialosi, a hurricane specialist at the center, warned that people
in Florida should still brace for heavy rain, said "This is a
potentially heavy rain event for a large part of the state," he said.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott declared a state of emergency for the entire
state and officials urged residents to fill gas tanks and stockpile food
and water.

Erika is a particularly wet storm, and its moving across a region that
has been struggling with drought.

Given how weak the storm now is and how dry Puerto Rico and parts of
Florida have been, "it could be a net benefit, this thing," said MIT
meteorology professor Kerry Emanuel.

The center of Erika was located about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and was moving west at about 21 mph (33 kph), the
Hurricane Center said late Friday. The storm's maximum sustained winds
dropped slightly to 45 mph (75 kph).

The storm was driving west-northwestward at 20 mph (31 kph), with the
eastern tip of Cuba about 145 miles (235 kilometers) ahead. The
Hurricane Center said it was likely to slow before hitting Cuba or the
southeastern Bahamas.

Meanwhile in the Pacific, Jimena turned into a powerful Category 3
hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph (205 kph), and the
Hurricane Center said it was likely to be near Category 5 status soon,
though it did not pose an immediate threat to land.

Friday, August 28, 2015

We Cubans Need to Solve Our Own Problems / Ivan Garcia
Posted on August 27, 2015

Fifty-four years, seven months and eleven days after that January 3,
1961— the day on which American diplomatic personnel closed their
embassy — seventy-three year old Denis Sentizo, a heavy-set
African-Cuban with an easy smile, did not want to miss a historic
moment: seeing the stars and stripes waving again against his country's
intense blue sky.

"Right now I can't help but think about my father, may he rest in
peace," says Santizo. "He worked as a kitchen helper at the US embassy
in the 1950s. In 1961 the embassy closed and he couldn't find another
job, so he had to go cut sugarcane in Camagüey (500 kilometers east of
Havana). He died in 1991 and would have wanted to live to see this
moment. Given our geography and history, this promises more advantages
than disadvantages."

At 6:30 in the morning dozens of Havana residents begin to casually
congregate in the streets surrounding the embassy, a six-story building
clad in Cuban limestone and large sheets of green glass that first
opened its doors in 1953, a stone's throw from the Malecon.

Teresa Contreras, a store clerk, is one of those who decided to get
there early. "I don't know if the government of Raul Castro is planning
economic or political reforms, but the situation is already changing.
Things will get better for Cubans, God willing " she says, making the
sign of the cross with a plastic water bottle towards the people around her.
Waking up from a fifty-four-year slumber in which the two nations have
been crouched in their respective trenches will be a litmus test for
politicians from both sides.

There are those within both the dissident community and the Palace of
the Revolution who look askance at the new agreement. Antonio Rodiles, a
Cuban opposition leader, is not expecting anything from the thaw.

"Obama gave up a lot without getting anything in return. There were no
calls or demands that human rights be respected," says Rodiles. He and
Berta Soler, founder of the Ladies in White, decided not to attend an
event hosted by Kerry to which ten other dissident figures had been invited.

One segment of the opposition feels out of place in the new environment.
"I see more opportunities under the new scenario for new political
dialogue with the government. But as Cubans we must resolve the problems
ourselves," says Vladimir Romero, a human rights activist.

And since December 17, 2014 everyone in Cuba has been anticipating for
more to eat, large-scale investment and broadband internet.

Never before has the opening of an embassy aroused so many expectations.

Last of a three-part series by Ivan Garcia on John Kerry's twelve-hour
visit to Havana. Previous blog posts in the series: Welcome, Mr. Kerry
and Reporting from Havana without Press Credentials.

Photo: A man waits for the sun to go down to transport two buckets of
water, Chinese-style, in Santiago de Cuba. From El Pais, July 2015.

Away from the media spotlight, Cubans on the outskirts of Havana and in
towns in the country's interior lack drinking water in their homes. A
lack of rain due to a weak storm season has led to a fierce drought, a
cause of concern throughout the island. The drought is forecast to
worsen after November, the beginning of Cuba's traditional dry season.

14ymedio, Havana, 27 August 2015 – In a telephone call this Thursday,
artist Danilo Maldonado, El Sexto, confirmed that he is on a hunger
strike. From the Valle Grande prison he also referred to his mother,
Maria Victoria Machado, whom a State Security agent had told of his
"speedy release." The graffiti artist has made the announcement
cautiously because it is not the first time that "they have tricked him
with something like this," Machado told this daily.

On August 24, El Sexto's family waited outside the prison for hours for
his release. Days before, an official from State Security had reported
that date as the one on which he would be liberated. However, the prison
authorities denied that "an order or paper allowing him to leave" had
arrived. The graffiti artist advised that he would declare himself on
hunger strike, although until today his situation could not be confirmed.

Wednesday at the Office of Attention to the Valle Grande Jail
Population, Machado was assisted by an official who assured her that no
one in the penitentiary center was on hunger strike. However, on
exiting, relatives of other prisoners advised her that her son together
with other prisoners had begun a fast.

El Sexto recently received the International Vaclav Havel 2015 Prize for
creative dissidence, awarded in a ceremony organized under the framework
of the Oslo Freedom Forum which he could not attend because he was in
prison.

The artist has been imprisoned since last December on a charge of
contempt for having tried to carry out a performance with two pigs
painted with the names of "Fidel" and "Raul." Eight months after his
arrest he has not been taken before a court.

14ymedio, Lilianne Ruiz, Havana, 27 August 2016 — In mid-August Tom
Malinowski was part of the delegation accompanying John Kerry during his
visit to Cuba. The Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights was not
only present at the raising of the flag at the embassy in Havana, but
met behind closed doors with a group of Cuban activists in the residence
of the US charge d'affaires.

Some questions of concern to Cuban civil society and the Cuban exile
were included in the questionnaire that Malinowski agreed to answer
for 14ymedio via e-mail.

Lilianne Ruiz. Several groups within the Cuban community believe that
the historical commitment of the United States in favor of the
democratization of the island has weakened since the restoration of
diplomatic relations between the two countries.What can you respond to this?

Tom Malinowski. The commitment of my Government to promote universal
human rights and democratic principles in Cuba remains as strong as
before, as Secretary of State, John Kerry, said during the opening
ceremony of the embassy in Havana on August 14.

The opening of the embassy in Havana allows us to advocate more for
these values. These changes have already allowed us to increase our
contact with the Cuban people. Secretary Kerry and I were able to meet
with several activists and other representatives of Cuban civil society
on August 14 and it was clear that they are taking advantage of the new
situation to push for real change.

Now we have more possibilities to discuss human rights issues with
Havana. I met March 31 with the Cuban government to plan for a future
dialogue. It will be more difficult to treat US organizations and other
international NGOs as criminals now that Cuba has diplomatic relations
with us.

The new approach also facilitates Cubans' access to information and
resources for they themselves to build their own future.

Ruiz. Will the programs that support Cuban civil society change as a
result of this?

Malinowski. President Obama has made it ​​clear that the US government
will continue the programs that promote universal human rights and
fundamental freedoms in Cuba, as we do in dozens of countries around the
world. However, it is possible that the Cuban Executive will maintain
its objection to these efforts and try to repress those who are
participating in these programs.

After Cuba eliminated many immigration restrictions in 2013, a larger
number of members of civil society on the island has been involved in
training courses abroad, developing their professional networks.

Ruiz. The Cuban government alleges that the economic embargo prevents
the buying of medicine and medical equipment from the US. For example,
there is a shortage of some medicines for cancer treatment in Cuban
hospitals. Is there any truth in the statements of the Executive?

Malinowski. The restrictions on transactions with the Cuban government
do not apply to medicines or medical equipment. At least since the Act
for Democracy in Cuba was approved in 1992, medicines and medical
supplies, instruments and equipment are authorized to be exported to
Cuba. Far from restricting aid to Cubans, we are proud that the people
of the United States and its companies are among its biggest suppliers
of food and health-related products. In 2014, US exports to Cuba totaled
nearly $ 300 million in agricultural products, medical supplies and
humanitarian goods.

One of the advantages of our new policy is that it will be harder for
the Cuban government to blame the United States for any humanitarian
difficulties which might befall the Cuban people. The United States will
do its part, according to its laws, to enhance the success of the
self-employed, to improve access to the internet and to increase
economic ties between the two peoples, with the objective of benefitting
ordinary Cubans. As the Secretary Kerry said, the embargo has always
been a two-way street; both sides have to remove the restrictions that
prevent Cubans from taking full advantage of these changes.

Ruiz. After December 17, the arbitrary arrests, intimidation and
beatings of peaceful activists have continued and the regime refuses to
respect fundamental freedoms. How will the US put into practice its
commitment to support the defenders of human rights in Cuba?

Malinowski. First of all, we condemn the harassment instigated by the
Cuban government, and the use of violence or arbitrary arrests of
citizens exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful
assembly. And we have addressed these points directly to the Government.

When we announced our new policy in December of last year, we said we
did not expect that the behavior of the Cuban government would change
overnight as a result of the restoration of diplomatic
relations. However, we start with the idea that we will be more
effective in promoting human rights if we have diplomatic relations and
an embassy in Havana, because now the international attention will be
focused on the policies of the Cuban government instead of instead of
limiting itself to criticizing the embargo.

We have not stopped denouncing human rights violations and we will
continue our dialogue with the Cuban Government on these matters,
emphasizing the need for it to keep its promise to allow access to
international observers.

BROOKFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio -
International delegates from Cuba are talking with local leaders about
potential business as the two countries normalize relations.

On Thursday, State Representative Sean O'Brien announced his run for the
State Senate.

O'Brien told a crowd of supporters he will run for State Senator Capri
Cafaro's seat with the 32nd District. Cafaro's term expires at the end
of this year.

O'Brien says he has big shoes to fill and talked about some of his goals.

"Economic development, schools we got a lot of work there to do, just
improving our quality of life here. There's so much to offer and that's
what we are going to work on," said O'Brien.

Visiting Sean O'Brien 's event were international delegates from
Cuba. Over the past year The Regional Chamber of Commerce has inquired
about business opportunities with the neighboring country.

The Cubans say they're excited about the improving relations but, their
main concern is lifting the embargo and deciding once and for all what
to do with the Guantanamo Bay.

"There are a lot of opportunity in the business sector in the business
activity that the U.S. business sector is losing having that kind of
situation and restriction in the bilateral relation that they are not
allowed to go to Cuba to explore those opportunities of doing business,"
said Rubén Ramos Arrieta with the Economic and Trade Office of the
Embassy of the Republic of Cuba.

Arrieta says Cubans have interest is learning better agricultural
techniques from the U.S, whose production per acre is much higher.

President of The Chamber Tom Humphries says construction is another
opportunity.

"They don't have the material to build buildings, housing and we have a
lot of that type of manufacturing here between Pittsburgh and Cleveland
and predominantly here between Youngstown and Warren," said Humphries.

It may take a while for the benefits of construction and agriculture to
take a strong foothold but, they believe a more immediate impact could
come from tourism.

"We are now trying to develop in our country that type of activity, like
golf courses that are quite interesting for the tourists activity to
develop," said Arrieta.

Another area that could see an immediate impact -- academics.

University's are a natural fit for international cooperation and
Youngstown State University has been working hard to recruit
international students.

"Your students better become internationally understood. They better go
out and go over to other countries. You better have an international
student population on your campus so that your entire student body
understands that it's a global world and that's the world they are going
to be entering," said Y.S.U President Jim Tressel.

Valley officials are expected to make a couple trips to visit Cuba over
the next six months.

Havana, Cuba, Aug 27, 2015 / 02:24 pm (CNA).- The leader of a human
rights group is concerned that the Cuban government will repeat its 2012
crackdown on opposition activists when Pope Francis visits the nation
next month.

During Pope Benedict XVI's visit three years ago, Cuban officials made
arrests and took other actions to keep the dissidents from communicating
with each other, said Berta Soler, leader of Women in White, a group of
wives and other relatives of jailed Cuban dissidents.

"We're really worried," Soler told CNA last week. "When Pope Benedict
XVI came to Cuba they shut down telephone lines in an area of some 15 to
25 miles. They did the same to the cell phones of human rights activists
and their close relatives."

She said the government put them under surveillance three days before
Pope Benedict's arrival.

"Cuban officials began arresting all the human rights activists so we
couldn't participate in the Masses the Pope celebrated in Santiago de
Cuba and Havana."

Pope Francis will visit Cuba Sept. 19-22.

"We're waiting (to see what will happen), we're thinking the same thing
is going to happen when the Holy Father Pope Francis comes," Soler said.

Nevertheless, she stated that Women in White as well as other human
rights activists will try to go to the Masses because "we want to be
close to the Holy Father." She said they know that they're going to be
arrested.

Soler met with Pope Francis in Saint Peter's Square in May 2013 and sent
a letter to the pontiff through the nunciature and through friends. She
asked the Pope: "When you come to Cuba could you listen to us even for a
few minutes?"

The dissident leader reported arrests of the Women in White and other
opposition activists on recent Sundays.

"We've been going out now (to march) for 18 Sundays and we can take it
for granted that the Castro regime is going to come after the Women in
White and the human rights activists on Sunday, Aug. 23rd… because we're
deep into our #TodosMarchamos (We're all marching) campaign to free the
political prisoners."

She said that the Castro government is assembling "paramilitary mobs
organized and financed by (the regime) to physically and verbally attack
us." National police and state security agents are also involved.

According to Soler, at present "there are about 80 political prisoners
and 42 who are only technically released or on parole." The latter 42
could be arrested again and sent back to prison without trial at any moment.

On Sunday Aug. 16 more than 60 human rights activists along with some
Women in White were restrained and arrested as they were marching after
Mass at Saint Rita's Church in Havana.

As expected, over 50 human rights activists and members of the Women in
White were arrested in Havana on Sunday, Aug. 23 at the end of their
protest march. Soler told the newspaper Martí News that excessive force
was used in some arrests. Those detained were released five hours later
in different parts of the city.

Some were released near nightfall in uninhabited areas where they were
at risk of violence or assault, Soler charged.

For months, the case of Tania Bruguera has been a protracted drama that
has played itself out on the international stage. The artist — a Cuban
national — was detained in Cuba just prior to the New Year, for
attempting to stage a performance about freedom of expression in
Havana's Revolution Square. And while she was soon released,
Bruguera had her passport confiscated, and was later detained on various
other occasions. All of this was happening during a historic political
moment — when the U.S. and Cuba were coming to a rapprochement.

See the most-read stories in Entertainment this hour >>
Bruguera, who works primarily in the U.S. and Europe, is now back in the
U.S. She landed in New York last Friday, after getting on a flight
without previously alerting friends or family. Her return puts an end
(for now) to an eight-month-long political and artistic drama that, for
a time, appeared as if it might go on indefinitely.

The artist is currently in New Haven, Conn., participating in the Yale
World Fellows program, where she will be working on a new project (yet
to be determined) and participating in various activities at the university.

She took time to chat via Skype on Wednesday to discuss her whole
Cuba experience. ("I am still digesting everything," she said.) In our
conversation, which has been edited for flow, the artist said she would
return to Cuba. But first, there are a number of projects that will keep
her in the U.S. for the time being — including one that will bring her
to L.A. and the California Institute of the Arts.

You left Cuba very quietly. In fact, I understand that you only let
friends and family know you were leaving once you were in the air. Why
the secrecy?

I have been surveilled for eight months. At one point, I thought, "No,
I'm being paranoid. Of course they don't care about me anymore." But in
the meanwhile I suspected that someone very close to me was one of the
informers. So I didn't tell anybody that I was leaving. I did tell that
person the night before. And then in the morning I did normal stuff,
like I'm not leaving. I go to the house. I go here. I go there. And
immediately in the morning, I have five people — friend and friends of
friends — calling me saying, "When are you leaving?"

A document provided by the Cuban government declares Tania Bruguera's
case closed. "The lawyer I worked with said it was the first time they'd
seen something like this," says Bruguera. (Tania Bruguera)
And I arrive at the airport and [a pair of Cuban state security
officials], Javier and Andrea, arrive — literally, 10 minutes after I
get to the airport. They couldn't do anything because I was leaving. But
[one of the officials] asks me what happened with this conference in
Puerto Rico. It was this conference of dissidents. He says, "What did
you hear?" I said, I didn't know because I didn't go.

He said to me, "Can you give me your number in the United States?" I
said, "Thanks to you I don't have a phone anymore because I lost my
line." And he said, "Can I have your address?" And I said, "Well, I lost
my apartment too" -- my apartment in Corona, Queens [in New York]. He
said, "I might be there in September."

It's like until the last minute they want to mess with your head. They
want to make you paranoid. At one point he said, "Someone close to you
works for us." I said, "You're not going to make me a paranoiac. I've
been here for eight months and I am not a paranoiac." I understood they
were watching me. But I would not let them make me a paranoiac. That's
what they do, they make you paranoid, they isolate you.

What did it feel like as your flight took off for New York last Friday?

The first thing I was like, there's Internet! Free Internet. That really
was almost a shock. It was very intense not to be able to communicate
freely with anybody you trust. I made drawings of where all the public
telephones were located. (While I was in Cuba, I started drawing again.)
You could use a public phone, but only once, because then they would be
monitoring. Or you'd have someone stand right next to you and they would
[be listening in]. So I drew where all the phones were and which ones I
used.

At one point, you said that you would not leave Cuba until you had a
written guarantee from the government that they would let you back into
the country. Were you able to get such a confirmation?

I didn't get exactly what I asked for. But I did get a letter that says
that they've closed the case. The lawyer I worked with said it was the
first time they'd seen something like this. The thing is that [state
security does] things and then there is no record. They ask you to sign
papers, two copies of papers and then they keep both copies. You have
nothing. So this is extremely good.

I also had my things returned. Everyone is very impressed they gave me
my computer back. I'm going to use it as an artwork now. The one thing I
learned is that [the Cuban government] gave a different meaning to my
work. That's fine. My work is about that. Setting the scene and seeing
what happens. The government was the one who wanted to participate. I
was fighting for the authorship of my piece with the government! [Laughs.]

Was there a moment where you were fearful that something really bad
could happen? That you could end up in jail for the long term? Or that
there could be a crackdown?

It was the moment when I was first detained in my house. That was the
30th of December. They wouldn't let me leave the house. All the phones
were cut. The cellphone was cut. My family, I was very worried about
them. They're old people. The most stressful moment was to know that I
could do nothing to prevent an outburst of violence on Revolution
Square. I had told everyone, "Don't do anything until I get there."
Before the performance started, I wanted to make sure we read the rules,
that everyone understood them.

It was also stressful the night before [the intended performance]. Some
friend, they told me, "Don't go home." I thought, I could walk all the
night around Havana and not go anywhere. Or I could sleep on the street
like a homeless person. But by then they were following me. And then I
realized that it was very important to show that I was not doing
anything wrong, so why would I have to hide?

There is no legal avenue in Cuba for this. There is no law in Cuba where
a single citizen can ask permission to use the street to do anything —
whether it's a fair or a stand with a business. It always comes from top
to bottom.

At what point did you realize that the government likely wouldn't
prosecute you?

It was like the 10th of July. After six months — 180 working days — it
was obligatory for them to request a special permit from the Minister of
the Interior to continue the investigation or they would have to charge
me with something. So I knew that at 180 days something would have to
change. I would go to prison or be liberated. That was the turning point.

Then they gave me the passport. They told me that the case was closed,
and to sign here. And as I'm standing there with the paper, they said,
"Don't get any ideas about putting a microphone in a plaza again or I
will open the case again and we'll put you in prison."

The one thing that changed while I was there is, now I have a mission. I
want freedom of speech in Cuba. I entered Cuba as an artist but left
Cuba as an activist. I was always both. But I was more an artist. But
now I'll be focused on activism. There is a lot of work to be done

What are you going to do next?

One thing I'm going to do is to take this horrible energy and transform
it into something good. So I will continue do the Hannah
Arendt Institute for Artivism [started as part of a performance in
Havana, in which Bruguera read from Arendt's "The Origins of
Totalitarianism"]. It will be about civic education. It will be for
people on the street. To show them the value of their behavior, the
power they have. That's not going to be an easy task. It's going to be a
very big project.

The second thing I want to do is an art video. A very good friend of
mine gave me this gift which is 10 sessions with this therapist who
specializes in Stockholm syndrome. So we will record the sessions and I
will turn into a video.

Right now I'm at Yale, and I'm also going to be working with the mayor
of New York [as the artist in residence] at the [Office of Immigrant
Affairs]. And I will be in L.A. at some point to do something at CalArts
[as part of the Herb Alpert Award, which she received in May]. I'll be
there a week or 10 days. The [Herb Alpert Foundation] has been really
wonderful.

Really, I am so grateful to all of the people who supported me in this.
My sister, Deborah [Bruguera], she barely slept for eight months. And so
many other people, I am so thankful.

Do you have plans to return to Cuba?

It was very hard, but I don't regret anything. It was important that art
had a function at a historical moment in Cuba. To be a part of society,
to be a part of that, it was incredible. And now people in the street in
Cuba know what performance art is. Every day people would be talking
about "el performance." It was incredible.

But I will return to Cuba to do the Institute. I will definitely go back.

Bitcoin comes to Cuba. Could it help end the country's crazy
two-currency system?
WRITTEN BY Tim Fernholz
August 27, 2015

The first reported bitcoin transactions between the US and Cuba mark the
latest innovation brought to the island's complicated economy, as the
two countries normalize relations.
Fernando Villar, the Cuban-American founder of a group called
BitcoinCuba, told Crypto-Currency News that he made the transaction this
week using public wi-fi networks that Cuba's socialist government has
started installing in public parks.
"The future for Bitcoin in Cuba is promising, but it's going to take
some time and effort," Villar told CCN. "Cubans are only now being
connected through public Wi-Fi, which is somewhat cost prohibitive at $2
an hour, with the average Cuban salary about $20 a month. … [but] it's
only a matter of time before they also start receiving money through
those networks."
The barriers of cost and investment may well be surmounted with
time—internet infrastructure is one of the few sectors where the US
trade embargo against Cuba has been relaxed and American and Cuban
entities can begin doing business with one another. That leaves
political barriers as the primary challenge for bitcoin in Cuba. This is
no small obstacle in a country where the government only began gradually
relaxing control over the economy in recent years.
One area where controls remain firm is currency. Cuba has a unique
dual-currency system: There is one regular peso for mass use, and a much
more valuable peso that is convertible to foreign currency, known as the
CUC ("kook"). The regular peso trades at about 26 to the dollar, while
the CUC trades one-for-one to the dollar, but the government takes a
10-cent "dollar penalty" and a 3-cent conversion fee. Some products,
even some necessities, can only be bought with CUCs.
By imposing these capital controls, the government boosts its
much-needed foreign currency reserves each time a foreigner changes
money or a Cuban expatriate remits money to family members back home.
The controls also make it more difficult for Cubans to leave the island
with their wealth.
Of course, one of bitcoin's most powerful features is its ability to
avoid traditional capital controls—that's why the currency is such a big
hit in China, where users could move money outside of the government's
watchful eye, despite constant threats of a crackdown.
If bitcoin were to become more broadly adopted in Cuba, it could open up
a whole new range of activities. Instead of bringing down large amounts
of physical cash, Cuban Americans seeking to invest in, say, Cuba's hot
real estate market, could do the transaction in bitcoins. And instead of
winding up with a ton of dollars they would have to convert or stick in
their mattress, Cuban recipients of bitcoin could take that money out of
the country and convert it to another currency without penalty.
Despite a series of government announcements that the dual-currency
system will come to an end—these stretch back to 2013—it has yet to
happen. Officials say the cautiousness is meant to avoid a run on the
currency; observers say it's because the abrupt transition might
threaten the government's control of the economy.
In any case, currency unification is seen as a key component of Cuba's
economic reforms by all parties; the costs and complications of two
kinds of money are dreadfully inefficient. If the proliferation of
bitcoin hastens that process, it will be a win for strange
bedfellows—the Obama administration's hope that normalization will spur
reform and the bitcoin community's push against centralized economic
control.